How we think about investments

Meta
2 min read

We make a couple investments a year. Generally into businesses we have a working history with.

What we look for

  1. Ambitious teams. On a mission to solve a large scale problem with an impactful product. A large scale problem is experienced the world over by many people. An impactful product is embraced by those people and eventually achieves a significant cumulative improvement in their lives.
  2. Unexpected Perspective. Unique insight into an industry and problem, coupled with an uncanny ability to articulate them. It’s arresting when you hear it, as if the team sees the future.
  3. Laser Focus. Ability to recognize distractions and avoid shiny objects. Instead choosing to focus on the fundamentals, key metrics, and core product. Knowing the quickest way to run is first crawl, then walk.
  4. Record of shipping. Appreciating there is no such thing as a perfect product or perfect time to deploy. Having a commitment to shipping product early and often. Putting progress in user hands and iterating through customer feedback.
  5. Infectious passion. Having a superhuman excitement for their market, product, and team. A deep conviction the world desperately needs what they're building. Along with the energy and grit to wake up and fight for it every single day.

Our investments come in two forms

  1. Trading time for equity. This is our most common approach for active accounts. It's generally in the form of a reduced retainer rate. The concept tends to come up early in conversations. But we rarely do it until we have sufficient working experience. That way both sides know it's the right decision.
  2. Writing a check. This tends to happen with alumni accounts and/or teams we know well. It's generally a 5 figure check and written at the Series A or earlier.